Device for separating and packing elastic products

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a device for separating and packing gloves in a particular order from a collection area wherein the gloves are provided unordered and unsorted, a device for separating and packing gloves not in a particular order from a collection area wherein the gloves are provided unordered and unsorted and also to a device for separating and packing gloves in a predetermined order directly from dipping line.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for separating and packing elastic products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for separating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-like material.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Products made of rubber or rubber-like materials have been known for some time; these include any types of products which are produced either from naturally or synthetically produced rubber. The elastic behavior of products of this type also plays a certain role in regard to the set of problems to be solved.

In particular with products which are provided for use in the fields of hygiene or medicine, such as examination gloves, and which are used in large piece counts, difficulties result during packing in regard to packing in the package provided for this purpose and the exact piece count.

In addition, requirements may also exist for the uniformity of the orientation of such products, which have made manual engagement necessary until now.

On the basis of this prior art, it is the object of the present invention to provide a device of the type cited at the beginning which, with the least possible expenditure of manual engagements, offers the possibility of first separating the products provided in large piece counts and automating the counting, the orientation, and the packing as much as possible.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly, there is provided a device for separating and packing elastic products such as products made of rubber or rubber-like material in a particular order, wherein the products to be separated and packed are provided unordered and unsorted in a collection area and at least one driver reaches in the collection area, characterized in that the device is further provided with a product release mechanism, a layering unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the layering unit layers the product in the particular order, compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined height and upon receiving the predetermined height, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.

Also provided is a device for separating and packing elastic products such as products made of rubber or rubber-like material not in any particular order, characterized in that the device is provided with a product supply unit, a weighing device or a counting device, a singulation unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined condition and upon receiving the predetermined condition, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.

Furthermore, there is also provided a device for separating and packing elastic products such as products made of rubber or rubber-like material, wherein the products to be separated and packed are provided from a supply line characterized in that the device is provided with a product release mechanism, a product layering unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined height and upon receiving the predetermined height, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.

The present invention consists of several novel features and a combination of parts hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying description and drawings, it being understood that various changes in the details may be made without departing from the scope of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a device for separating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-like material in a particular order which is connected to a conveyor according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the device according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a device for separating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-like material not in a particular order according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the device according to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a device for separating products made of rubber or rubber-like material connected to a dipping machine according to the third embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the device according to FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top view of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to a device for separating products made of rubber or rubber-like material. Hereinafter, this specification will describe the present invention according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention. However, it is to be understood that limiting the description to the preferred embodiments of the invention is merely to facilitate discussion of the present invention and it is envisioned that those skilled in the art may devise various modifications and equivalents without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

The following detailed description of the preferred embodiments will now be described in accordance with the attached drawings, either individually or in combination.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 7, the device (10, 22, 30) is assembled from various components and has the object of preparing arbitrary products made of rubber or rubber-like material for separating and then packing them in a predetermined way.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the device (10) according to the first embodiment of the present invention which has a collection area (12). This is where the finished products are placed unordered. This collection area (12) is connected to a product supply unit (48) which has a sufficient width and length to ensure that there is always sufficient amount of products to be supplied into the collection area (12) to keep the packing process running.

Of course, only products of a specific type and size are placed in the collection area (12) for packing in each case. The products accumulated for packing are first placed unordered in the collection area (12).

A circular driver disk is provided as a base for the at least one driver (14), on which at least one driver arm is situated at equal angular intervals to one another. The driver disk is implemented as a circular disk and is provided with drivers (14) situated uniformly distributed. In consideration of the products, which are sensitive to mechanical effects, the drivers operate pneumatically, i.e., tubes are provided on the driver arms, which are connected via flexible tubing to a partial vacuum unit, via which a partial vacuum is applied to each of the open tube ends, which is sufficient to pick up a product from the unordered set. In this way, a high frequency of picking up products and thus a high throughput are achieved.

The driver disk is situated so it is rotatable and successively acquires a product from the collection area (12) formed on the conveyor belt using the particular driver arms and supplies it to a measuring unit, in which the products are tested for maintenance of the specified length or size requirements using a predetermined standard. The testing criteria and acceptance range for the product length or size is however adjustable.

If the test is successful, the driver may convey the product further and pulls the product over a shoot (13) to the product release mechanism (15), while the product remains in the collection area (12) if the test result is unsatisfactory.

Specifically, is possible that the driver does not acquire the affected product at its end, but rather at any arbitrary point, for example, in the middle. Thus, when a product is acquired at an arbitrary point and passed through the measuring unit, it will be considered too short. In this case the product will be released back to the collection area (12). The products with unsatisfactory results do not leave the collecting area (12) and may be replaced by a product with satisfactory results picked from the collection area (12).

For the device (10) which is connected to the collection area (12), the at least one driver (14) moves on a circular path. It is appreciated by one skilled in the art that other movements than circular path for example oval path is also possible. The at least one driver (14) thus only places products having correct length or dimensions as predetermined in the testing criteria on the shoot (13), and releases products viewed as not within the predetermined parameters back into the collection area (12).

The products placed by the driver arms on the shoot (13) are oriented at this stage in accordance with their longitudinal extension, i.e., for example, for examination gloves, the fingers point in one direction and the engagement opening points in the opposite direction.

The product is pulled over the shoot (13) by the at least one driver (14) and arrives at the product release mechanism (15), which holds the product and pulls the product off from the at least one driver (14). This product release mechanism (15) comprises a combination of two rollers rotating in counter rotation. It is appreciated by one skilled in the art that other release mechanisms are also implementable. The two rollers are preferably made of a soft material, so that they do not damage the products. As soon as a product, such as a glove, reaches the roller on the conveyor belt, there is provided a pusher mechanism that pushes the products, such as a glove to be pulled by the two rollers and passes through the gap between the rollers. The pusher mechanism will only push the product to the rollers at a predetermine location indicated by means of a sensor, for example at the end or tip of the product. The product layering unit (40) is ready to receive the products conveyed by the rollers.

The now empty driver (14) mounted on the circular disc returns to back the collection area (12) and again picks up a product such as a glove from the collecting area (12). The pulled off product however is now gently pulled down and reaches the product layering unit (40). The product layering unit (40) has the ability to separate and lay one product on top of the other and therefore accumulates a predetermined number of products. The product layering unit (40) orients the placed products in accordance with their longitudinal extension, so that, for example, for gloves, the fingers point to one side and the engagement opening points to the diametrically opposite side.

The product layering units (40) lowers in synchronization with the incoming products and maintains therefore the same height for the next incoming product. Because the product layering unit (40) moves along step-by-step with the incoming products, it causes the orientation of the affected products.

In order to ensure that the products are placed in opposite or random directions, the conveyor platform is implemented as horizontal movable and performs an appropriate movement corresponding to products coming through the 2 preferable soft rollers at the product release mechanism (15). Completely automatic separation and orientation of the products is thus essentially ensured.

In a further improvement of the device (10) according to the present invention, a counting device (42) is provided, which counts the number of products supplied to the product layering unit (40). The purpose of this counting device is to ensure that the entire piece count of products is always provided for packing.

In regard to the main area of application of the device (10), namely the handling of products made of rubber or rubber-like material, the products provided for packing are compressed before packing. This is performed by the compressing unit (16). In other words, the products are compressed to form stacks, in order to thus reduce their space requirement, which is otherwise too large to be inserted into the box (20).

As soon as the number of products reaches the predetermined number, the product layering unit (40) pushes the product out into the compressing unit (16). The product layering unit (40) is connected via conveyor to the compressing unit (16). The conveyer delivers the products to the compressing unit (16) after a predetermined number of products have been accumulated.

After that the lifting device will lift itself up in order to receive the next stack of products. In the compressing unit (16) the products are compressed to a predetermined height, without any damage to the products so as to ensure that the height of the products in appropriate to the products to be forced into a packing unit (18) where an empty box is located from a stack of empty boxes (41) to receive the compressed product.

Once the products have been pushed into the box (20), the box (20) will drop into the filled box area and stacked so that more filled boxes can be received. Once a box is removed from the packing unit (18), a further empty box is supplied from a stack of empty boxes (41) to ensure continuous packing of the products.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the packing unit (18) reaches the box (20), opens the box automatically, acquires the counted and compressed products and pulls or pushes them into the box (20) and subsequently automatically closes the box (20) upon completion of the packing of the products.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a further embodiment of the device (22) for separating and packing products made of rubber or rubber-like material not in a particular order according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention whereas FIG. 4 is a front view of the device (22) according to FIG. 3.

In this second preferred embodiment of the present invention, the products need not to be arranged in a particular order. In operation, the products are supplied from a supply conveyor to the device (22) which is equipped with a weight measuring device or a counting device (42). Therefore, in this embodiment, the device (22) does not require the collection area (12), drivers (14) and a measurement unit as in the first embodiment.

The vacuum provides sorting of the product and the product goes through the compressing and packing units (24, 26) in the way similar to the ones described above. As the compression and packing operations are similar to the first embodiment of the invention, the description of the same will not be repeated.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a device (30) for separating products made of rubber or rubber-like material connected to a dipping line (32) according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a front view of the device (30) according to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 is a top view of FIG. 5.

In this third embodiment of the present invention, the products are supplied directly from the dipping line (32). Therefore, in this embodiment, the device (30) does not require the collection area (12), drivers (14) and a measurement unit as in the first embodiment. An example of this embodiment is shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, in the glove production line, the dripping line (32) is provided with glove formers with half-stripped gloves.

From the dipping line (32), the product goes through the product release mechanism (46), product layering unit (45), compressing and packing units (34, 36) in the way similar to the ones described above. As the compression and packing operations are similar to the first embodiment of the invention, the description of the same will not be repeated. 

1. A device for separating and packing elastic products in a particular order, wherein the products to be separated and packed are provided unordered and unsorted in a collection area and at least one driver reaches in the collection area, wherein the device is further provided with a product release mechanism, a layering unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the device is configured as follows: the layering unit layers the product in the particular order, compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined height and upon receiving the predetermined height, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the products are gloves.
 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the collection area is formed by a conveyor belt or a rotatable disc, on which the products are placed.
 4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one driver is configured to move on a circular, oval, pivot or linear path.
 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein a driver is provided, on which driver arms are situated at equal angular or distance intervals to one another.
 6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one driver is configured to operate pneumatically or mechanically or a combination thereof.
 7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the at least one driver has a driver arm, which is provided with a tube, whose free end ends with the driver arm and has an opening, while the other end of the tube is connected to a partial vacuum unit.
 8. The device according to claim 6, wherein the tube situated on the at least one driver arm has a partial vacuum at its opening upon reaching in the collection area and thus suctions on a product to be separated.
 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein a counting device is provided, which works together with the at least one driver in connection with the product layering unit.
 10. The device according to claim 1, wherein a shoot is connected with the product layering unit for orienting the deposited products, which orients them in accordance with their longitudinal extension.
 11. The device according to claim 1, wherein a product release mechanism is provided, wherein the mechanism is configured to release the oriented product from the at least one driver and place the product in the product layering unit.
 12. The device according to claim 1, wherein a counting device is configured to detect the predefined but adjustable number of products placed in the product layering unit.
 13. The device according to claim 1, wherein a transport device is provided, which is configured to remove the products placed in the product layering unit upon reaching a predefinable piece count and supply them to the compressing unit.
 14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the products provided for packing are compressed before being sent to the packing unit.
 15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the transport device is configured to place the products removed from the compressing unit on a conveyor belt, which is configured to supply the products to the packing unit.
 16. The device according to claim 15, wherein the packing unit is configured to acquire a prepared box, automatically open a box to allow the counted and compressed products into the box and automatically close the box upon completion of the packing of the products.
 17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the packing unit is configured to operate pneumatically or mechanically or a combination of both.
 18. A device for separating and packing elastic products not in any particular order, wherein the device is provided with a product supply unit, a weighing device or a counting device, a singulation unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the device is configured as follows: the compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined condition and upon receiving the predetermined condition, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.
 19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the products gloves.
 20. The device according to claim 18, wherein the product supply unit includes a conveyor belt or a shoot wherein the product supply unit is configured to supply products unordered to the weighing device or the counting device, wherein the weighing or counting device is configured to interact with the product supply unit and stop the supply if the predefined number or weight of product has reached.
 21. The device according to claim 18, wherein a singulation unit is provided, which is configured to take oversupplied products from the weighing device or the counting device in order to achieve the predefined weight or number of products on the weighing device or the counting device whereby the singulation unit still holds the oversupplied products and releases the same to the weighing or counting device in the next machine cycle.
 22. The device according to claim 18, wherein the weighing device or the counting device is configured to transport the predefined weight or number of products into the compressing unit.
 23. The device according to claim 18, wherein the weighing device or the counting device is configured to detect the number of products or respectively the weight of products placed in the weighing device or the counting device.
 24. The device according to claim 18, wherein a transport device is provided, which removes the products placed on the weighing device or the counting device upon reaching a predefinable requirement and supplies them to the compressing unit.
 25. The device according to claim 24, wherein the products provided for packing are compressed before being sent to the packing unit.
 26. The device according to claim 25, wherein the transport device is configured to place the products coming from the compressing unit and supply supplies the products to the packing unit.
 27. The device according to claim 26, wherein the packing unit is configured to acquire a box, automatically open a box to allow the counted and compressed products into the box and automatically close the box upon completion of the packing of the products.
 28. The device according to claim 27, wherein the packing unit is configured to operate pneumatically or mechanically or a combination of both.
 29. A device for separating and packing elastic products, wherein the products to be separated and packed are provided from a supply line wherein the device is provided with a product release mechanism, a product layering unit, a compressing unit and a packing unit, wherein the device is configured as follows: the compressing unit compresses the products until the products reach a predetermined height and upon receiving the predetermined height, the products are then sent to the packing unit for packing.
 30. The device according to claim 29, wherein the products are gloves.
 31. The device according to claim 29, wherein the supply line is a dipping line.
 32. The device according to claim 29, wherein a counting device is provided, which works in connection with the product release and or the product layering unit.
 33. The device according to claim 29, wherein the product release mechanism is configured to release the particular half stripped gloves from the glove dipping formers and deliver the product to the product layering unit.
 34. The device according to claim 29, wherein the product layering unit is provided with a unit for orienting the deposited products, which is configured to orient them in accordance with their longitudinal extension.
 35. The device according to claim 29, including a counting device configured to detect the number of products placed in the product layering unit.
 36. The device according to claim 29, wherein a transport device is provided, which is configured to remove the products placed in the product layering unit upon reaching a predefinable piece count and supply them to the compressing unit.
 37. The device according to claim 36, wherein the products provided for packing are compressed before being sent to the packing unit.
 38. The device according to claim 37, wherein the transport device is configured to place the products removed from the compressing unit on a conveyor belt, which supplies the products to the packing unit.
 39. The device according to claim 29, wherein the packing unit is configured to acquire a prepared box, automatically open a box to allow the counted and compressed products into the box and automatically close the box upon completion of the packing of the products.
 40. The device according to claim 39, wherein the packing unit is configured to operate pneumatically or mechanically or a combination of both. 